Hotel Royal Corin Resort & Loto Spa La Fortuna

... Edwin, our friends' brother, met us over breakfast and provided us with some maps and general advice on navigating the roads of Costa Rica. We picked up our 4x4 and headed North for Monteverde. We stopped for lunch at the Caballo Blanco and sampled our first cosado (beans, rice, salad, fried plantains, meat /fish). It is helpful that the kids are adventurous eaters and do not miss the standard American kids menu. Luckily my husband finished lunch with a ...

... too, which was awesome. By the end, they even flipped us over. Really refreshing considering how darn hot it gets there!<br><br>I also went to the Baldi hot springs, which was really neat too. Kindof a unique experience. They have like 9 pools of varying temperatures, etc. I had dinner too, for $30. It even was raining and thundering at the time, but you still do it for some reason or the other. <br><br>Anyway, i think that covers everything I did... until next time!<br><br><br>

... and a crazy 60m "tarzan" swing which makes you squeal like a little girl and requires clean drawers afterwards. It certainly was loads of fun and definitely worth it.... highly recommended. It is a little colder up here compared to the beach, but makes a nice change and escape from the heat and is also a fair amount cheaper than the coast.

... The Quakers came to Monteverde in the late ´50´s to escape the draft. They have established quite a dairy business here as well as good schools and a strong co-operative store. Although the cheese factory wasn´t active we certainly could have a delicious ice cream and sample the cheese. In the evening we visited the Serpentarium which was fairly unspectacular and had a tour of the Frog Pond which was ´pretty cool´.

... attempts proved unfruitful, and the bus became battered, clogged up with mud, and damaged each time the excavator had to come in and pull it out. Each attempt was followed by an hour or more of dirt moving and packing, and it became evident that we may not make it to our destination. Eventually a micro tour bus pulled up to the back of the line, well behind our monster bus, and a couple of us approached the tour guide on that bus for a possible lift. No go, he ...

... guys at the Serphentario where to eat and he recommmed Morpho, which we had already considered. There we ran into the Sailing family again. So Brittany and Emily hung out with us in town for a little bit and we went to all the gift shops, again. We ended up coming back to take a nap and the Sailing Family went on the night tour. Now we are waiting to hear from them because we are all planning on going out to eat together.

After getting into Monteverde, we decided we had to have some ice cream, of course, (there´s a cheese factory in town that also makes great ice cream). Yummy! We then toured several amazing art galleries. There are many unique and talented artists in the area. After that, we went to a Serpenteria where there ...

... playing together, the women in one group having five conversations at once just like at home, the men standing around glancing at their watches wondering how much longer. I had a great time getting to know some of the folks and had no problem discussing any topic that came up, as long as it was something a 4-year-old would be interested in. Just kidding. We talked a lot about crime and social problems, immigration issues ...

... said so. about half way through the journey a man and a woman made a bit of a commotion next to our seats - she 'accidentally' dropped her glasses under my feet and he asked gabbie to open the window. luckily we both had our bags on our laps and our arms around them but a few minutes later, after the two of them had got off the bus, it turned out 2 bags were missing from above our heads. we went for a 'hike' around the ...